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Libreboot 20230423
- gclawes 3y agoDoes Libreboot (.org) still have the binary blob drama going on?
- anonym29 3y agoHaven't heard of this, can you share more context or a link to a story about this?
- LukeShu 3y agoThere was a sibling "osboot" project that allowed in the minimum amount of binary blobs to add support for more boards. This is at odds with the FSF's RYF and FSDG policies. In November 2022, libreboot merged osboot, adopting osboot's more permissive binary blob policy ( https://libreboot.org/news/policy.html https://libreboot.org/news/policy.html ). Because libreboot is no longer in compliance with the FSF's policies, this has created some drama in the community. Some of the libreboot contributors have even split off and created a fork (also claiming the Libreboot name: https://libreboot.at/ https://libreboot.at/ ).
- neilv 3y agoThis? https://libreboot.org/freedom-status.html https://libreboot.org/freedom-status.html I wouldn't call it drama. There's often important practical reasons to try to minimize closed parts of the firmware. See also the high-security / high-trustworthiness work of Purism.
- LukeShu 3y agoThere's definitely drama around it. There's drama around whether devices seeking RYF certification can use newer (blob-allowing) versions of Libreboot, even if the devices has a board for which Libreboot doesn't use blobs. There's drama around whether FSDG-following GNU/Linux distros can still ship the Libreboot tools. The page https://libreboot.org/news/policy.html https://libreboot.org/news/policy.html does a better job of showing how the Libreboot's policy is at odds with the FSF's RYF and FSDG policies. And that disagreement between Libreboot and the FSF definitely causes drama in the community. Heck, a few Libreboot contributors split off and created a fork (also claiming the Libreboot name): https://libreboot.at/ https://libreboot.at/
- newswasboring 3y agoI'm curious why you call it drama and not debate. Every open source project is constantly debating new ideas. Calling something drama has a connotation of another layer of ego.
- yjftsjthsd-h 3y agoA debate can have an answer; this is two groups with mutually exclusive subjective views.
- newswasboring 3y agoBut you can absolutely debate subjective issues. We do that all the time when discussing policies.
- LukeShu 3y agoBut I would say that there is an answer here. Given the mutually-agreed on objective of protecting/creating-a-distribution-that-respects the users' rights to the 4 freedoms as defined by the FSF, there is an answer as to which policy best serves that goal. Libreboot has said "given that goal, we believe that the FSF's RYF and FSDG policies are problematic and partially undermine the goal", and the FSF has said "no, we believe that our RYF and FSDG policies are the best policies at this point in time, and Libreboot's non-compliance with those policies partially undermines the goal". But both sides agree on the goal.
- jeroenhd 3y agoI'm pretty sure that "drama" is the whole reason Libreboot exists, instead of just merging into the Coreboot project it's based on.
- Riku_V 3y agoNope, what libreboot does is make coreboot simple for end users to install. With coreboot, you have to configure it manually (by design). Libreboot even provides pre-compiled binaries (with clear instructions on how to install them).
- guilhas 3y ago'Was' They recently included non-free binary blobs. They should probably rename to openboot
- r12343a_19 3y agoI never understood what Libreboot does on top of Coreboot. As far as I could tell it's a "distro" of Coreboot that just disables some things and maybe adds a few patches. All the heavy lifting is done by Coreboot.
- wrycoder 3y agohttps://libreboot.org/freedom-status.html https://libreboot.org/freedom-status.html
- newswasboring 3y ago[flagged]
- rhn_mk1 3y agoThe reddit discussion is severely out of date.
- newswasboring 3y ago[flagged]
- rhn_mk1 3y agoIt's the opposite. Libreboot removes parts of coreboot which don't fit into its philosophy.
- renewiltord 3y agoThese comments are usually downvoted but they're usually quite useful. Thanks.
- newswasboring 3y agoI'm doing it for the first time. Didn't know it will get this negative a reaction. I feel like the answer was acceptably worded. I even pointed out that I understand half the answer was wrong. I felt like it was in the spirit of HN.
- remram 3y agoI have a lot of trouble reading it a "libre boot" rather than "lib reboot". The lib prefix is so common in open-source/Linux.
- Szpadel 3y agoI never noticed that before, now I cannot unsee it
- userbinator 3y agoI think that's intentional. See also: libiberty.
- michaelnoguera 3y agoThat name reminds me of "Liberty Biberty" from the insurance commercials: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mrLqtmko5Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mrLqtmko5Y (real meaning: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libiberty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libiberty)
- anthk 3y agohttps://libreboot.at https://libreboot.at
- endorphine 3y agoCan someone ELI5 what this is and what purpose does it serve?
- FrostKiwi 3y agoThis is a pre-compiled distribution of Coreboot with the aim of sticking as close to free as in freedom philosophy. Most importantly it identifies devices, which can be booted with as little involvement of non-free blobs (binary large objects) and pre-configures coreboot to support exactly that use-case, whilst enabling features off by default in Coreboot like CMOS settings. Also it disables the Intel Management engine, not by patching it out, but by booting in a way which does not require it to load in the first place, if possible. Depending on architecture, like some laptops with Core2 and some server boards like any AMD processor from the Bulldozer era can be booted off-of firmware images, which contain no black-box blobs from the manufacturer or parts, which cannot be recreated from FOSS code. Most crucially, this also includes μCode updates. So it could be seen as a tradeoff in stability and performance to get close to the ideal of extending FOSS into the realm of Hardware.